Stewing on a theme of cuisine : biomolecular and interpretive approaches to culinary changes at the transition to agriculture

In the last two decades scientific techniques have opened up new avenues in archaeological studies of food. In particular, biomolecular approaches generate datasets with fundamentally different resolutions compared to traditional macro-remains. Equipped with these datasets, the authors probe the possibility for discussing new themes in food studies, through an investigation of cuisine. Following a critical review of theoretical approaches to subsistence and prestige food economies, they suggest that cuisine is a social expression of past food evaluation processes. By reconstructing pottery use at two sites that span the transition from foraging to farming in northern Europe (c.4,000 cal BC) using organic residue analysis, they suggest that understanding how food was valued is important in explaining the wider economic changes during this period. The foodstuffs that were carefully chosen to be processed in pottery fulfilled contingent social purposes beyond economic necessity.